Lithuania has urged the population not to buy Chinese phones after discovering a censorship function in a Xiaomi model smartphone, which it replies to the Lithuanian government. Here’s What’s Happening
Chinese electronics company Xiaomi, known primarily for smartphones, released a statement yesterday stating that its devices do not censor user communications. It did so after the day before, the Lithuanian Defense Minister advised the population to avoid the company’s phones due to the presence of a “censorship” function in the Mi 10T 5G model. WHAT THE XIAOMI COMPLAINT CONSISTS OF
The National Cybersecurity Center, linked to the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense, said that Xiaomi’s Mi 10T 5G phones have the ability to detect and censor terms deemed sensitive in China, such as “Free Tibet”, “Long live Taiwan independence “Or” movement for democracy “. This capability, present in the software of this smartphone model, has been deactivated for the European Union but – according to the Lithuanian government – can be reactivated remotely “at any time”. ALSO HUAWEI
The National Cybersecurity Center made it known that the Xiaomi Mi 10T 5G was sending encrypted phone usage data to a server in Singapore. The center also found security flaws in a smartphone manufactured by another Chinese company, Huawei (the P40 5G, specifically).THE COUNCIL OF LITHUANIA
The Deputy Minister of Defense of Lithuania, Margiris Abukevicius, recommended “not to buy new Chinese phones, and to get rid of those already bought as soon as reasonably possible”. THE REPLY OF XIAOMI
In a statement sent Wednesday to the Reuters agency, Xiaomi states that her device “does not censor communications to or from its users”. The company also said it “never, and never will, limit or block any personal behavior of our smartphone users, such as searching, calling, browsing the web or using third-party communications software. “.
“Xiaomi complies with the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union”, the so-called GDPR, which establishes a whole series of rules on the processing of personal data and privacy. RELATIONS BETWEEN LITHUANIA AND CHINA
The clash with Xiaomi is only the latest in a series of conflicts between Lithuania and China. Only last month, Chinese authorities asked Lithuanians to withdraw their ambassador to Beijing after Taiwan – a state that China does not consider independent but part of its territory – announced that its mission in Lithuania would be called “Representative Office Taiwanese “. Usually, in order to avoid the outbreak of disputes with China, the representative offices of the Taiwanese government in Europe do not mention the name of Taiwan but that of the main city, Taipei.
Last May, Lithuania abandoned the “17 + 1” group (also known as China-CEEC), which is the initiative for economic and infrastructural cooperation between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In February, however, the country banned the use of baggage control machinery at airports from a company linked to the Chinese Nuctech: it did so for reasons of national security, which is the motivation used by the United States to convince the allies not to purchase technologies and components from Chinese companies.
